Some time ago, I watched St. Trinian's, hoping to find some Shakespeare allusions. It had a grand total of one. For you Shakespeare needs, St. Trinian's II is where the action is.

In this film—one of a number set in an imagined Worst English Prep. School for Girls Ever—we learn that the headmistress' most esteemed ancestor was a pirate sailing the high seas in 1589. Moreover, the ancestor left behind clues to an ancient treasure.

I'll try to avoid too many spoilers, but the search leads to the Globe theater. In order to prevent the evil villain from seizing the treasure, Miss Fritton (the headmistress, played by Rupert Everett) and Geoffrey Thwaites (her on-again-off-again boyfriend, played by Colin Firth) must distract everyone and stall for time by enacting Romeo and Juliet while the girls of St. Trinian's explore a secret room they've discovered below the Globe:

I don't know why the film hasn't yet been released to North American audiences in a Region 1 DVD. The cast list is star-studded, and the film, though not a triumph by any stretch of the imagination, is entertaining.

Perhaps audiences in North American aren't quite ready for the revelation that Shakespeare was Pirate Fritton:

Click below to purchase the film from amazon.com(and to support Bardfilm as you do so).

Editor's Note: If a video clip on this blog has subtitles, it's a pretty safe bet that I watched the film in question at three times the speed with the captioning on, hoping to save time for other endeavors.

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Bardfilmis normally written as one word, though it can also be found under a search for "Bard Film Blog." Bardfilmis a Shakespeare blog (admittedly, one of many Shakespeare blogs), and it is dedicated to commentary on films (Shakespeare movies, The Shakespeare Movie, Shakespeare on television, Shakespeare at the cinema), plays, and other matter related to Shakespeare (allusions to Shakespeare in pop culture, quotes from Shakespeare in popular culture, quotations that come from Shakespeare, et cetera).

Unless otherwise indicated, quotations from Shakespeare's works are from the following edition:

KJ is a professor of English and Literature at a small Christian liberal arts college. In addition to courses entitled “Shakespeare” and “Introduction to Shakespeare,” he teaches a course called “Shakespeare and Film.” Recently, he developed a course titled “Modern Shakespearean Fiction.” Shakespeare is also integrated into nearly all his other courses, including courses on the Literature of Food and the Literature of Humor. Additionally, he is the author of Bardfilm: The Shakespeare and Film Microblog. But you may have known that already.